Surprises at the Party
by SwanQueenAddict
Summary: It is Kate's 30th birthday, but will she spend it alone or with friends?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Don't own the character, but if I did Kate would not have died... :(

**A/N:** I was thinking of doing another Halloween story given it is that time of year, but then I thought of this idea and decided to expand on it :D Please R&R :)

**/-x-x-x-/**

Kate stared at Abby standing in front of her desk.

"Please?" she begged.

"I don't know" Kate muttered.

"Please, it'll be fun!" Abby nodded.

"It's a little childish don't you think?" Kate asked chewing on her lip.

"No way! Remember my party last year?" Abby cried.

"Oh what the hell, why not" Kate sighed.

"Awesome! Let's decide the costumes" Abby grinned wheeling over a chair.

"20's?" Kate suggested.

"How about something fun!" Abby cried.

"That could be fun" Kate shrugged.

"What about comic heroes?" Abby grinned.

"And what is going to happen when two people come dressed as the same person?" Kate asked raising an eyebrow.

"Easy. When they RSVP to me I'll get them to write down who they intend to be and see if anyone else is attending as that person" Abby smiled.

"Fine" Kate sighed. "When are you thinking of holding it?" Kate asked looking around the empty bullpen.

"Tomorrow night, on your birthday" Abby answered.

"Who is going to come at such short notice?" Kate frowned.

"You'd be surprised. Email me a list of friend who you think will attend and I'll invite some of my friends" Abby explained putting the chair away noticing Gibbs walking over to his desk. "Oh and I'll wait to send out the invites so you get first dibs, plus I have to design them first" Abby smiled. "Do you want to see a copy before sending them out?" Abby asked.

"No its fine, I trust you" Kate nodded.

"Awesome!" Abby grinned cheekily.

"I'll send you an email later" Kate said shaking her head regretting letting Abby have artistic design over her party invites.

"But don't take too long deciding" Abby frowned and quickly disappeared seeing Gibbs glaring at her.

"Well that was fun" Tony stretched entering the squad room. "Shoulda been there Kate. Gibbs almost had the guy peeing his pants" Tony said sitting down in his chair. Kate smiled faintly and looked over at Gibbs. _'Oh Gibbs'_ she sighed and noticed Gibbs looking at her so she quickly turned her head to her computer screen. _'If you only knew how I felt'_ Kate muttered and decided to get her report done early so she could go home. Once Kate handed Gibbs her report an hour later, he nodded satisfied and said they could go home. Kate quickly sent Abby an email with her costume idea before shutting down her computer and headed over to the lift. _'Well tomorrow is the big day'_ she sighed waiting for the lift.

"Got anything big planned for the weekend?" Tony asked appearing by her side.

"Not really" she shrugged entering the lift. "You?" Kate asked watching Tony pressed the car park button.

"The usual" he replied.

"Beer and movies?" Kate guessed.

"You know me too well" Tony winked.

"No, it's only cuz you brag about your weekends all the time!" Kate laughed.

"That is true" Tony shrugged. Kate shook her head and waited for the doors to open.

"Cya on Monday Kate" Tony waved goodbye striding over to his car.

"Bye" Kate answered slowly moving to her own vehicle.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Kate opened her eyes to hear someone knocking on her door. Getting up, Kate quickly grabbed her dressing gown lying on the floor and walked to the door. She swung it open and smiled seeing her mother carrying a big bag.

"Happy Birthday dear" she greeted.

"Thanks Mum" Kate smiled moving aside to let her mother in. "Where's Dad?" she asked peering out into the hall.

"Parking the car" she explained.

"Cup of tea?" Kate asked looking over at her mother after closing the door.

"That would be lovely dear" her mother smiled. Kate nodded and moved across to the kitchen.

"I can do it, why don't you sit down and open your presents" Kate's mother suggested handing over the bag.

"Ok" Kate grinned.

"Your brothers would've been here but Eric had to take Johnny to football training" her mother explained pouring water into the kettle.

"Happy Birthday Caitlin!" her father cried bursting through the door.

"Thanks Dad" she smiled getting up and hugged him.

"Opened your presents yet?" he questioned.

"Just about to" Kate replied moving back to the table. Kate got a few CDs, books she wanted, a couple of vouchers and the last to open was her parents. Kate stared in awe at the new PDA in front of her. "You didn't have to" she said looking up at them sitting across from her.

"We would have never heard the end of it ever since your boss put your old one in front of target practice" Kate's father said.

"Is that the time? Sorry Caitlin, but we must be off" her mother cried jumping to her feet.

"That's ok, I need to go get my costume anyway" Kate shrugged.

"Costume?" her father frowned.

"Abby is throwing me a party tonight" Kate sighed.

"Isn't that nice" her mother cooed. _'You wouldn't be so happy if you knew the theme' _Kate laughed. She saw her parents off then quickly went to get changed and drove off to the costume store.

**x-x-x**

"Oh this is a bad bad idea" Kate muttered staring at her outfit. She jumped as someone banged on her front door.

"Open up Kate! You'll be late" Abby yelled. Biting her lip, Kate moved over to her door and swung it open. "Wow…" Abby whistled.

"Don't" Kate scolded and dashed back to her room.

"You look amazing!" Abby grinned quickly grabbing Kate's wrist. "Come on, we'll be late. We can't have the birthday girl arriving late at her own party" Abby laughed.

"I guess not" Kate sighed grabbing her keys out of her bag.

"You won't be needing these" Abby beamed taking them from Kate and put them down on the bench.

"What have you done?" Kate gasped.

"The Birthday girl has to arrive in style!" Abby smiled guiding Kate out the door and down the hall.

"Arrive in style" Kate frowned as they entered the lift.

"You'll see" Abby grinned pressing the button and lift started to head downwards. Knowing Abby wasn't going to tell, Kate waited for the lift to slow and the doors to open. She followed Abby outside and saw a black limousine waiting on the side of the road.

"You are an amazing best friend!" Kate grinned and rushed forward to hop in. A short while later, the car stopped and Kate looked out the window. "Are we here already?" she asked glancing down at her watch.

"Yep" Abby said and quickly got out to hold the door open for Kate. "What's wrong, it's just up these stairs" Abby frowned seeing Kate standing still.

"I don't know" Kate muttered looking down at her outfit.

"Come on, you look great" Abby said.

"Ok" Kate sighed and followed Abby. As they grew closer to the door, Kate cold hear voices coming from inside. Abby swung it open and waited for Kate to catch up.

"The birthday girl has arrived!" Abby cried making the crowd fall silent. Kate looked around nervously then relaxed seeing her close friends.

"Christy!" Kate shouted and rushed over. "oh my god, I haven't seen you since high school!" She squealed giving her friend a hug.

"Well I couldn't miss your 30th birthday party, could I?" she joked giving Kate a hug back. "Here, I got you something" Christy said pulling something out of her bag.

"Thanks" Kate smiled and quickly opened it. "It's gorgeous" she smiled staring down at the butterfly necklace. "I'll catch up with you later" Kate excused herself seeing other friends. The party was going great; friends Kate hadn't seen in a long time, the food was fantastic and the music was playing but not too loud that you couldn't have a conversation. Kate suddenly froze on the spot seeing Gibbs and Tony standing in the corner talking. Quickly searching around, Kate found Abby talking to some people and rushed over. "What are they doing here?" she hissed.

"Who?" Abby frowned.

"You know who!" Kate shouted indicating towards the back of the room.

"I couldn't not invite them" she shrugged.

"Yes you could've" Kate growled.

"Oh look… they are coming over" Abby grinned. Kate looked up and saw Gibbs and Tony walking towards her. Kate then looked back at Abby to see her moving away.

"You're not going anywhere!" she cried grabbing her wrist.

"Ash just arrived, I want to say hello" Abby frowned and wriggled from Kate's grasp. Kate watched Abby go and her heart began to pound faster as they drew closer and closer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Kate tried to get her breathing under control as they approached.

"So Superwoman, have you seen the birthday girl? Apparently she was around here somewhere…" Tony joked taking a sip of the beer.

"That your third or fourth?" Kate snorted.

"Fifth!" Tony announced quite proudly. "Anyway, Happy Birthday Kate" he smiled squeezing her around the shoulders. "If you'll excuse me, Catwoman promised me the next drink" Tony said searching around.

"Typical" Kate laughed. She looked up realising she was standing alone with Gibbs. "So what are you supposed to be?" Kate asked staring at Gibbs wearing a plan pair of denim jeans and white shirt.

"Not sure. Abby said I should just come" Gibbs shrugged. Kate nodded and looked away. "Kate" He paused to turn her head back to him. "Can I have a word?" he asked quietly.

"Sure" Kate nodded looking at him.

"Not here…" Gibbs said looking around at the crowd. "A place where we won't be disturbed" he added. Kate took a deep breath as she followed Gibbs to the small balcony.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Kate frowned watching Gibbs closed the screen door and squeeze past her.

"At work, lately I've noticed you staring at me" Gibbs explained quietly. Kate stared at him horrified _'Oh god, he's noticed!'_ she panicked as her heart rate skyrocketed.

"There you are!" Abby sighed pushing the screen door back making Kate jump. "Stop hogging the birthday girl Gibbs" Abby cried.

"Just give us a minute Abs" Gibbs glared.

"But it's cake time!" Abby whined.

"Abby!" Gibbs roared.

"Fine…" Abby huffed. "But don't be too long" she frowned and sulked away.

"You were saying" Gibbs said turning back to Kate.

"I didn't say anything" she shrugged.

"Well can you at least tell me why you tend to stare at me? Do I have something on my face or what!" Gibbs questioned. "Well?" Gibbs demanded as Kate made no attempt to reply. _'I guess I'm just gonna have to tell him'_ she sighed and moved closer to the railing and looked over at the city. "Kate?" he called softly appearing by her side and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I can't help who I fall in love with!" Kate cried turning to face him. "What?" she frowned seeing Gibbs stare at her in awe. Suddenly Kate covered her mouth realising she said the L word. "Gibbs…" she muttered. He took a step closer and placed his finger on her lips.

"Shhh" Gibbs smiled faintly. He removed his finger and leaned forward to kiss her. "Happy Birthday" he whispered in her ear. "I think we better go inside before Abby comes out again" he chuckled giving her hand a quick squeeze.

"Before we do, can I ask you something?" Kate frowned chewing on her lip.

"Sure" he nodded staring at her.

"When I told you how I feel, you were supposed to act differently" Kate mumbled.

"Like how?" he queried.

"I dunno. Get mad, fire me, shout at me, tell me I'm silly for loving someone older and my boss" Kate shrugged avoiding his gaze.

"Kate…" he sighed stroking her face making Kate look up. "Don't you get it?" he frowned.

"Get what?" Kate asked confused.

"I like you back" he smiled.

"Let's go have some cake" Kate said suddenly grabbing Gibbs' hand and pulled him forward. "Where is my cake?" Kate asked staring at Abby.

"Already eaten it" she shrugged looking away.

"What?" Kate shrieked.

"Kidding!" Abby laughed grinning as she guided Kate over to the table where a large chocolate cake lay. Kate blow out the candles as everyone sang her happy birthday. Abby quickly disappeared and came back holding a knife. Kate took it from her and cut the first piece.

"Ooooh! You touched the bottom, now you got to kiss the nearest guy!" Tony said raising his eyebrows. Kate looked around and same the same distance for Gibbs and Tony. "Well come on!" Tony cried. Gibbs took a subtle step forward. Kate looked up and grinned, she grabbed his shirt and tugged him forward, and their lips meet with a smack. Kate looked over her shoulder and burst out laughing seeing Tony's stunned expression.

"So, inviting Gibbs wasn't such a bad idea after all eh?" Abby teased nudging Kate's side.

"Oh shut up" Kate giggled beaming.

**- The End -**


End file.
